1. Field of Invention
The disclosed invention pertains to the device designed for the racking of billiard balls, specifically, the racking of billiard balls in a diamond-shaped configuration as well as many non-conventional configurations. It is specifically designed to remedy the inherent problems with the currently-available billiard racks of the balls not racking tightly and balls being moved or disturbed upon removal of the rack. Currently, the majority of billiard racks are one-piece devices and fit relatively loosely over the billiard balls, which does not rack the balls tightly. Players normally attempt to use their fingers to force a tighter arrangement. Also, with the currently-available racks being one piece, removing the rack without disturbing the balls is almost impossible. The optimal goal is for each billiard ball to be in direct contact with each other. Tight racking of the balls is of the utmost importance to a good and true break of the balls.
There is a need for a billiard ball rack which is simple in its design and construction, yet superior in its function. The present invention will accomplish these goals and provide additional multi-ball racking capabilities of multiple configurations.
2. Description of the Prior Art
All billiard games require the tight racking of the billiard balls (all balls touching each other.) Numerous popular billiard games are described in the “Billiard: The Official Rules &Records Book” published by the Billiard Congress of America. This book describes in great detail the rules for playing 7-ball, 9-ball and poker pool. It explains the equipment (diamond-shaped racks) that is needed to play these games, and also emphasizes the need to have the balls tightly racked. All currently-available billiard racks are one-piece apparatuses and therefore have the inherent problems as previously stated above of loosely-racked balls. Another billiard game described in “Official 16-Ball Rules and Regulations,” copyright 2004, 16-Ball, Inc., also racks billiard balls into a 16-ball, diamond-shaped configuration.
The great majority of currently-available billiard racks are one-piece, triangular-shaped or diamond-shaped devices. They support a very limited number of billiard ball-racking configurations and, therefore, a limited number of billiard games. The great majority of billiard games being played today, i.e., 8-ball, 9-ball, have changed little since the early 1900s. The currently available diamond-shaped racks are one-piece devices and support only one configuration.
The current invention, being a two-piece device allows for a multitude of non-conventional configurations, one of which is demonstrated in FIG. 4. The current invention, therefore, opens the door to the creation of new, innovative billiard games with multiples of different numbers of billiard balls and different configurations.